Title

Author

Degree Type

Dissertation

Date of Award

2010

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Entomology

First Advisor

Matthew E. O'neal

Abstract

This dissertation is organized into six chapters. Chapter one contains a general introduction, including a review of the literature on the biology, damage caused, and control of soybean aphid, Aphis glycines Matsumura (Hemiptera: Aphididae). In addition to soybean aphid biology and management, this chapter will also include a review of integrated pest management (IPM) theory including plant injury responses and insect threshold development. The chapters reporting the original research conducted through the course of study will progress from the applied to the basic: Chapter two will detail the effects of insecticide application techniques on soybean aphid management. Chapter three will report on the applicability of the current soybean aphid threshold on soybean grown in narrow-rows. Chapter four will compare the economic probability of net profit comparing preventive soybean aphid management programs to IPM. Chapter five will detail several soybean yield response models to two common sources of injury (e.g. assimilate removal and defoliation). Chapter five will also discuss how assimilate removal and defoliation interact in a common yield loss model, and how this information could aid in the development of comprehensive soybean aphid thresholds. Finally, chapter six will provide a brief overview of the conclusions of this original research and is followed by an acknowledgments section.